Masked Secrets
by Emilyyyyyyyy
Summary: Shane Walsh was simply going about his day after work when he meets a blonde haired, blue-green eyed woman and instantly feels the need to take care of her. (AU, Shandrea, Pre-Apocalypse)
1. Chapter 1

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_Hi again! I know I've been a while but here's a new story. I've been on holiday for the last three weeks so I've not been able to upload this but I've written new chapters for all of my fanfictions that will probably be up later. Anyway, enjoy!_

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Shane walked the cafe he usually did after he finished work. He ordered the expresso he usually did so he wouldn't fall asleep. The young waitress who clearly had a crush on him smiled nervously as she usually did when he ordered before running off to get his order, as she usually did. He glanced around as he usually did and saw all of the regular customers who were usually there at that time. But just as his coffee came he saw something, or rather some/one/, he didn't usually see. There was a pretty blonde woman with an unfamiliar face sat at an empty table looking down at her hands. Seen as he was sheriff's deputy he thought he may as well know who she was, and he wanted to know why she was alone, so he walked over.

The woman looked up at him as he came over. The first thing Shane noticed was her eyes. He was pretty sure he'd never seen anyone with that eye-colour before. They were an unusual blue-green. The next thing he noticed was how nervous she looked. He sat on the stool next to her and held out his hand.

"Shane Walsh" Shane said, introducing himself.

".. Andrea Harrison" The woman said as she almost timidly shook his hand.

"I'm sherrif's deputy. I've not seen you around before."

"Erm.. Yeah.. I'm new here.. Well sort of.. I moved over here a couple of weeks ago" She quickly put her hand away as soon as she shook his.

"Alone?" Shane asked, still confused as to why he'd never seen her before.

She shook her head "With my fiancé and daughter" Andrea looked down a little as she spoke, clearly not liking being spoken to too much.

"You're alone now though?" She nodded. "Well do you want a coffee?"

"I.. Erm.. I don't have any money. My fiancé.." She looked down again.

"He what?"

"Do you always ask this many questions?" She asked still looking at her hands nervously.

He shrugged "Not usually.. But what did your fiancé do?"

"He took my money.. He likes to drink quite a lot.." Shane called the waitress, who didn't look overly happy about him being with another girl, back over and ordered her a coffee before paying for it. "You don't have to.. I'll give you the money back when I next see you"

"It was only three dollars y' know"

"It's not my money. I'm not good with taking money" She said just before her coffee came to the table.

"Consider it a welcoming present then" Shane said with a slight smile, moving the cup over to her. He took a sip of his expresso.

"I'm not good at taking those either then" Andrea gingerly took the cup and drank from it.

"Where'd you work?" For some reason he really wanted to know more about this woman. He thought something seemed a little bit dodgy about her, like she was hiding something.

"I'm still on maternity leave. But before that I was a civil rights lawyer."

Shane nodded, downing the rest of his coffee. "How old is your daughter?"

"Two months. She's called Penny" Andrea took another drink from her cup, still looking nervous.

"Cute name" he said smiling faintly "My partner I work with has a son who's four. He calls me Uncle Shane"

She smiled nervously at that, the first real reaction Shane had got out of her. "Do you have kids?"

"Nah. I'd like to one day.. but I don't think I've met the right girl yet"

She nodded. Just after she did a car pulled up outside the cafe window. "Shit.. That's Phillip. I've got to go" she said quickly, standing up and putting her cup down.

Shane gently took hold of her wrist "Wait, let me give you my number, incase you ever need me" he said, still thinking there was something she wasn't telling him.

"It's nine one one, I know"

"No, I mean _my_ number. Here" He said passing her a scrap of paper he just scribbled his phone number onto.

"Okay, thank you, bye" She pocketed the paper before walking towards the door in a hurry but just before she got to it it opened. A tall man that must have been at least eight years older than Andrea walked into the cafe. He had dark brown hair and wore a scowl, directed at Andrea.

"C'mon Andrea" The man said sternly to her, grabbing a tight hold on her upper arm and practically dragged her out of the room.

Five minutes later Andrea was inside the mans car, she looked to the backseat. "Where's Penny?"

"At home" He replied flatly, starting the car and not looking at her.

"What? You left her at home? For gods sake Phillip she's two months old"

"Shouldn't have ran off then, should you?"

"I was gone for an hour, tops" Andrea said as Phillip set off driving.

"Andrea. Shut. Up." He said as he continued to drive. It was just then the smell of whiskey hit her.

"You've been drinking" It's wasn't a question, it was a statement.

"So what if I have been?" He said still not looking at her.

"You were looking after our daughter, you just picked me up in a car. What if something happened to Penny? And you could've killed someone driving" He was silent for a few long seconds as he pulled onto a two-storey houses drive.

"**My** daughter" Phillip corrected her as he climbed out of the vehicle.

Andrea rose an eyebrow at this, coping him and getting out of the car "_I_ gave birth to her so I'm pretty sure she's my daughter too"

"No!" He said sternly, "She is mine! I'll take her away from you if you don't believe me!" He said walking towards the door and opening it with a key. This really confused Andrea. _The hell did he mean, 'not her daughter'? Of course she was. Must be the drink talking_ she thought. She shut both of the car doors before running up to the front door. She really wanted to check on Penny. She made a mental plan to not leave without her again. He father couldn't take care of himself, never mind a baby. Upon entering the house again she saw her fiancé gone from sight._ What? Was he seriously taking her? _The blonde quickly made her way upstairs to her bedroom where she knew her daughter would be in her cot if her father hadn't got to her yet. Her room still looked recently slept in so she guessed at some point Phillip must have taken a break from 'babysitting' and fallen asleep. Just as she opened the door she heard the familiar cry. Phillip was stood over his daughters cot, a fresh bottle of whiskey in his hand. He turned as she entered the room.

"She is not yours" He said loudly to his wife-to-be.

"Phillip.. She's crying. Let me see to her" Andrea said as she walked over to the cot.

As soon as she got close he put a hand on her shoulder, pushing her away. "Don't come near her" She reached for her child anyway, to hell what he thought, she wasn't going to let her baby lay and cry. She was probably hungry. Just as she did she felt a sharp blow at the side of her head, knocking her flat onto the varnished-wood floor. Phillip just stared down at her before taking another swallow of the whiskey "..I mean it" he said after a solid minute of silence. He'd never done anything to that extent before. He was usually just rough with her when he was drunk or mad. He stormed out of the room with Andrea still on the floor. She stood up quickly after he was gone which made her head spin. She looked into the cot "Hey, baby, it's okay. Momma's here" She said as she lifted the crying baby out of her crib. Penny was small for her age but sure could make some noise when she wanted to. She had dark brown hair, like her father, but faint eyebrows. Her eyes were a blue-green colour, like her mothers. Guessing that her father hadn't fed her Andrea decided to. She sat down on the edge of the bed and fed her. The small girl stopped crying immediately and looked up at her mother. After a few minutes passed Penny's grip slacked and Andrea moved her down a little. She placed one hand behind her head and the other under her nappy which was enough to hold her small form up. Andrea just looked at her daughter, smiling faintly despite the throbbing pain in her head from the hit and the ache in her side from where she hit the ground. She couldn't understand how she could've actually made something as perfect as her and how she had somehow made her father loose it just because she was alive. Andrea then moved her closer to her shoulder, hugging her gently. "I love you, Penelope Harrison-Blake, and I will **never** let you forget that I do. No matter what your dad says" She whispered to her before kissing the top of her head lightly.

Andrea gave Penny a pacifier and laid her back in her cot before glancing out of the window. It had to be at least nine o'clock, way past her daughters bed time. She just wished she hadn't had had that stupid fight with Phillip and then stormed off. But really, being engaged to someone doesn't give them the right to their body without permission, does it? And the argument she just had was called for, she was protecting her daughter. She needed an early night. Seen as she didn't want to put up with Phillip when he finally decided to go to bed she locked the bedroom door; he could sleep on the sofa. Andrea stripped off all of her clothes and got into some of her pyjamas. She stared down at her hand again, as she had been doing at the cafe. This time she worked up the nerve to take off the engagement ring. She then put it on the bedside table. On the table was also her phone. She bent down and retrieved the scrap of paper Shane had given her from her pocket. The blonde typed the number into her phone and saved it into her contacts before putting on the table again. Afterwards she climbed into bed and closed her eyes, fully aware that in a few hours she'd be woken up by a crying Penny, a shouting drunken Phillip or both.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day at about seven o'clock Andrea got her usual wake up call. Groggily she pulled the bedcovers off of herself and made her way to the cot nearby. Just as she was lifting her out of the cot again someone shouted from downstairs.

"Andrea! Shut that damn kid up! I mean it!" Phillip could be heard shouting from downstairs. This wasn't the Phillip she fell in love with. The Phillip she fell in love with always seemed so happy to see her, took her out to places and showed her off to everyone and always was proud to intorduce her as _His girl_. That Phillip was nowhere to be seen as of late. He started acting different about a month before their daughter was born for a reason Andrea didn't know. Upon hearing her father shout Penny cried more, even causing real tears now.

"Penny, shhh. I'm here" Andrea said as she repeated her actions of the night before and placed her daughters head on her shoulder and hugged her gently. She tried soothing her by stroking her fine hair and giving her her pacifier again but neither did much. "It's okay, baby. He's not gonna hurt you" Just after she spoke she heard the thud of angry footsteps up the stairs. "We'll go out today, Penny" Andrea said as she laid the small girl on her mat to change her. Once she had done there was someone knocking loudly at the bedroom door.

"Andrea! What did I say?! Get out here and shut that stupid kid up!" Andrea got out a small pink onesie for Penny, a light pink T-shirt and dungarees. She got her dressed and fed her as she did yesterday. Once Penny was happy Andrea decided to get herself dressed. Once she had new underwear on she looked at herself in the mirror. From where she fell the night before her arm had also bruised. When she looked through her drawers she found out a long-sleeved shirt that would cover up her arms. She got that on and buttoned it up before then pulling on a pair of jeans. In the mirror she could also see the side of her head was bruised too. Quickly she tried covering it up with foundation and then, after brushing her hair, she moved it so the bruise would be a little more hidden. She knew that Penny's going-out bag was already in her pushchair downstairs. Andrea picked the baby up again from the bed and looked at the door, sighing, _One more thing to take on then_ she thought.

By the sound of it Phillip had gotten bored and given up at the outside of the door so Andrea unlocked it. As she opened it Penny hugged her a little tighter and the slight movement caused Andrea to flinch. She made her way downstairs with no sign of Phillip.

Once the two were downstairs Andrea strapped Penny into her stroller before going to retrieve her purse from the living room. She found her purse and also found her fiancé wasn't there either. She did a quick check of the kitchen and there was still no sign of him. She walked back over to the front door and opened it. After pushing Penny's stroller outside and locking the door Andrea saw the car was gone too.

* * *

Shane rolled over and grabbed his phone sleepily. He hit answer and it stopped ringing.

".. Yeah?" Shane said

"Hey, Shane, it's Rick" the phone spoke out

"Hey man.. What'd you want? I don't start 'till twelve" He rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed.

"Yeah, I've been told to tell you you've got the day off."

"Wha'? Why?" He was a little confused at this because had weekends off anyway and now he got a Friday off too.

"Not a clue. Boss' just told me to tell y'. Anyway, I better be off. See y'"

"See y' man" Shane said hitting the end call button. He laid back down and then looked over to hit clock. 11:27. He got up and made his way out of his bedroom and over to the kitchen. Upon opening the fridge he saw his options for breakfast. Half a carton of milk, cheese, a chocolate bar, a bag of lettuce. _Okay, I need to go food shopping_ he thought as he reached for the chocolate bar.

Half an hour later Shane had showered, dressed and eaten so he was ready to go. He checked his pockets. Wallet, phone, keys. Yep, he had everything. He opened his door and then locked it behind himself. Shane then made his way out off the apartment block and out towards his car. Feeling like having a proper meal he decided to go to the supermarket instead of the corner shop. He unlocked his Hyundai and got into it before starting it up. By the looks of sky it was going to rain later.

The local supermarket was a relatively small food store with a diner that was next to a large park. By the time Shane had drove to the store it had already started spitting. After pulling into a space in the car park Shane locked his car again before starting to the front of the store. As he walked he noticed someone with a pushchair sat the bus stop a short way away from the store entrance, even though that particular bus stop didn't run any busses until after four o'clock. As he got closer to the entrance he saw who it was. It was Andrea Harrison, the pretty blonde who he had met in the cafe yesterday. He stopped and decided to go over and tell her about the busses. Once he was close enough he stopped in front of her. "Hey Andrea"

She looked up, half expecting Phillip to be there. She sighed, relieved when she saw it was only The cop from yesterday. "Hi Officer"

"I'm off duty, call me Shane." She nodded, looking down a little again "You know there aren't any busses here until four, right?"

"I didn't but I wasn't waiting for one. I didn't want her in the rain" she said looking towards the pushchair again. Shane sat down next to her, deciding that his shopping could wait. He looked into the pushchair and saw a dark-haired, blue-green eyed baby starring back at him, sucking on a pacifier still.

"Woah"

"What? She's okay isn't she?" Andrea said as she looked into the stroller again to check on her daughter.

"Yeah, she's fine. She just has your eyes"

"Is that a bad thing?"

_Well done, Shane_ he thought "Erm.. No.. It's just an unusual colour. She looks a lot like you y'know"

"If you ever saw her dad you'd say she looked more like him."

"I have seen him. He was the guy that dragged you out of the cafe, right?"

She nodded, looking down a little again. "Yeah.. Sorry about that. We'd had an argument. He was drunk" As she moved her head down it moved her hair so a darker patch of skin was visible. In his time Shane himself had had plenty of those kind of bruises from fistfights. It looked like it had once hade makeup over it but it had washed off in the rain.

"What'd y' do to get that?" He asked looking at the bruise, already aware the most likely cause.

She knew instantly what he was talking about and quickly tried fixing her hair so the bruise was covered. "I.." _Quick, think of an excuse_ she thought "I fell"_ Seriously? That was the best you could come up with?_

"Andrea, I'm a cop. I can tell when people are lying" What was she suppose to do? She didn't want to bother Shane or tell on Phillip because either way she knew she would be the one ending up being the one in bother. "Okay then, do y' want a lift anywhere?"

She shook her head "No thanks, I've not got anywhere to go. I'll probably walk back to my house when the rain stops." After she spoke she then dug in her purse and fetched out a five dollar bill "For my drink yesterday "

"Andrea, I don't want your mone-"

"I don't care, you're having it" She said lifting up one of his hands and physically placing the money in his hand before closing it into a fist around the bill. His hand felt weird as she touched it, a good weird that he wasn't use to feeling. Okay, now he had started to realise why he was so worried about her. He could never be with her though, he knew that. That wouldn't stop him from looking out for her. He pocketed the money, knowing she wouldn't accept it back.

"Do y' want to come inside the store with me? I'll buy her something if you want."

"Phillip wouldn't like that.. And that's the last of my money" She said biting her lip nervously.

"C'mon, I'm not asking you on a date. I just want to make sure you're looked after." She nodded after a minutes thought. "C'mon then" He said standing up again and unzipping his jacket.

Andrea stood up after "Why are you taking it off? It's raining"

"Y' look like y' need keeping dry more than me." He said fully taking it off his jacket and passing it to her. Hesitantly she accepted it and put it over her shoulders, knowing her shirt would probably end up see-through if the rain hit it anyway.

"Thank you" She said before making sure Penny's pushchair was set so rain wouldn't hit her. Andrea started to walk and glanced over her shoulder to make sure Shane was still there.

"How old are you?" Shane randomly thought aloud. In her face she looked about twenty-two but she acted a lot older.

"Twenty-four" She said stopping walking. "You?"

"Twenty-four. What month you born in?"

"December, I'm nearly twenty-five" Shane nodded slightly. "You coming or not?"

He nodded again, starting to walk towards her and the pushchair "Yeah, yeah"

Once all three were in the store the blonde took off the now-wet leather jacket. "Thank you" she said again as she passed him the garment "Or I'll carry it if you don't want it on again"

"I'll carry it." Shane said taking it again. After he did he grabbed a basket for his shopping. "So, I'll get what I need and get Penny something"

"Thank you for the offer but you don't have to.. I can get her something if she really wanted something" Andrea told him. She was lying but she just wasn't comfortable with taking money.

"C'mon, y' might see something she'd like" Shane _really_ wanted to talk to her, or more rather her to talk to him, because he'd seen a few cases like Andreas and her guessed her fiancé wasn't as innocent as she had been making out. He just didn't want her getting hurt.

After Shane had his shopping done he put his jacket back on to go back outside. He unlocked his vehicle and loaded up his three shopping bags into the backseats whilst Andrea was inside the toilets changing Penny. According to the clock on the wall it was almost twelve. Phillip would _defiantly_ have a thing or two to tell her when she got back home. Andrea fed her daughter again after changing her nappy. She had left her pushchair outside the toilets so the blonde carried Penny out as she laid on her shoulder, her small head resting next to her mothers. Soon after Shane came back into the supermarket. He knew Andrea had said she was going to the toilets to change Penny so he decided to wait outside them. Now drifting to sleep, Penny sucked on her pacifier as she was laid back in the pushchair just as Shane walked over. Andrea then looked up upon hearing him. "Still raining then?"

He chuckled a little, taking off his soaked jacket "A bit. Do you want to go and pick her a toy? You've already paid me."

The blonde paused for a minute. Dispite her having a good paying job and Phillip still working her daughter didn't have many toys. Most of her fiancés wages went on his drink and hers that she saved up went on bills and moving house. The five dollar bill she had gave him really was the last of her money besides a few coins left in her purse. "..Okay. But you're okay with buying her something, right?"

"Of course I am"

".. Okay" Andrea said again "I won't get anything much over a few dollars then.."

"Why not?" Honestly, he just wanted to make her happy. He could tell she wasn't even though she tried to hide it.

"I only gave you five dollars. The drink you got me yesterday was three"

"Get whatever price one you want."

She paused, thinking again ".. But you don't even know me.. Why are you spending money on me?"

"Because you seem nice and by the looks of things you don't know too many people around here"

Well the not knowing many people part was true. The only person she really know from around her new home besides Penny, her fiancé and a few of her fiancés friends was her friend from law school called Michonne. She wasn't so sure about the first part though. In fact she was pretty sure there was something wrong with her. Almost every boyfriend she had had or even most of her friends had ended up hating her. Even the man she thought she'd spend the rest of her life with was starting to act differently to her. Andrea finally nodded at the statement.

A few minutes later the pair had found the baby aisle and Andrea was looking over the toys. "I don't know.. I feel rude picking.." She admitted.

"You want me to help?"

"..Okay" Andrea nodded.

"Well... How about this one?" He said picking out a relatively small white rabbit teddy with a pink cotton nose. The blonde took the toy and looked at it. As she rubbed her thumb over the fabric she could feel how soft it was. She knew her daughter would love it already. The tag on it read: **WHITE BUNNY **

**NEW BABY **

**$8 **

**MADE IN USA. **

"It's too expensive" She stated simply as she passed it back.

"New baby means it's good for newborns, right?" She nodded "Then I'll get it for her. It's only a few dollars over" Andrea looked anxious at this "C'mon, I'm only being friendly."

Andrea nodded again, biting her lip a little. Despite her looking so nervous Shane thought it made her look cute. "I know.. It's just not my money"

Shane nodded this time "I know, it's mine. And I _choose_ to spend it on your daughter"

"Thank you" The blonde replied, finally defeated.

* * *

Hours later at around six, even though it was still drizzling, Shane drove Andrea and Penny home, the smallest of the blue-green eyed beauties still clutching to the toy rabbit.

Andrea had stopped him a couple of houses away from her own, not wanting Phillip to see the two together again after yesterday. "Thank you Shane and me and Penny'll walk alone the rest of the way"

"Are ya sure? I don't mind"

The blonde nodded. Before taking a tentative nudge forward before undoing her seatbelt and moving over the hand break to kiss his cheek, causing Shane to unwillingly blush. "Thank you Shane" she repeated "It's been fun" And truthfully she had had fun, the most she had had in months. After taking Shane's shopping back he'd taken them out to McDonald's, which Andrea hadn't done in god knows how long and just played with Penny. Andrea climbed out of the car and then shut the door before opening the back door. She pulled out Penny's stroller and unfolded it before placing her daughter in the seat. "Thank you" she said once more for good measure.

"My pleasure" The deputy sherif replied. The blonde gave him one last small smile before walking the rest of the way home, Shane still watched her to make sure she was safe.

As soon as Andrea opened the door to her house she was welcomed by Phillip **"Where the ****_FUCK_**** have you been?!"**


End file.
